Iron Springs, a neighborhood in Manitou Springs, Colorado, was an area named for one of Manitou Mineral Springs. The Manitou area had been frequented by Native Americans who considered it a sacred and healing place before European Americans settled in Manitou.
Iron Springs began to be visited in the 1870s, particularly the Ute Iron Springs. In 1880, a new Iron Springs Hotel was built. Attractions and businesses in Iron Springs included an electric trolley, mineral springs, the Manitou Incline, and the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway, a cog railway. The incline was dismantled and is now a hiking trail. Neither the electric trolley or the Colorado Midland Railway are in Iron Springs now. The cog railway continues to operate. Iron Springs was annexed into Manitou Springs in several steps between 1887 and 1934.
Geography
The Iron Springs neighborhood is located in lower Englemann Canyon, along Ruxton Creek. It is the site of trailheads to higher elevations, including the Paul Intemann Memorial Nature Trail and the Barr Trail.
History
Mineral Springs
The Manitou Springs area has several mineral springs, called manitou for the "breath of the Great Spirit Manitou" believed to have created the bubbles, or "effervescence", in the spring water. The springs were considered sacred grounds where Native Americans drank and soaked in the mineral water to replenish and heal themselves. Ute, Arapaho, Cheyenne and other plains tribes came to the area, spent winters there, and "share[d] in the gifts of the waters without worry of conflict." There were 9 or 10 natural springs. As whites moved in there were "skirmishes" for access to the historical resort area until the Native Americans were removed from the area and placed on reservations.
Explorer Stephen Harriman Long made note of the water's healing properties in 1820. His expedition's botanist and geologist, Edwin James, noted the healing benefits of the water; He was also the first European man believed to have climbed Pikes Peak. George Frederick Ruxton wrote of the "boiling waters" in a book about his travels. Recognizing the extent to which Native Americans considered the site to be sacred, Ruxton wrote: "...the basin of the spring (at Manitou) was filled with beads and wampum, and pieces of red cloth and knives, while the surrounding trees were hung with strips of deer skin, cloth and moccosons (sic)."
In the 1870s, there was a pavilion over the Ute Iron Springs, which is thought to be one "strongest of tonics" due to its high iron content. In the early or mid 1880s, Iron Springs Company purchased the spring and built an Adirondack style wood pavilion over the spring. They sold the mineral water commercially until they sold the spring to Joseph G. Hiestand in 1887. In 1890, Joseph G. Heistand had the Ute Iron Springs pavilion torn down and rebuilt as a two-story structure, the second floor was a photographic gallery. The spring in the lower Englemann canyon was near the mouth of the canyon and the Iron Springs Hotel. The Ouray spring was found in 1895 and was established commercially that year.
In 1910, the Iron Geyser on Ruxton Avenue was drilled by Hiestand, to augment the operations of his Ute Iron spring. The springs were owned by Hiestand through his death on January 1, 1916. In the 1920s, William S. Crosby drilled two streams, which combined made a sweet tasting soda water, named Twin Springs.
The current Manitou Mineral Springs on Ruxton Avenue are Iron Spring and Twin Spring. Ute Iron Spring was capped when the Iron Springs Chateau Melodrama Dinner Theater was built in or before 1964.
Hotels
According to a June 1880 advertisement, the Iron Springs Hotel was located very near the Ute Iron Springs and has been entirely rebuilt and decorated with the "handsomest" furnishings. Charles A. Hubert was the proprietor of the hotel. It was burned in July 1882.
In 1884, the large Iron Springs Hotel was built by the Gillis Brothers for the Manitou Iron Springs Company. It was located on Ruxton Avenue at the site of the current Manitou Incline trailhead. The Gillis Brothers also had several cottages built on Ruxton that year. In 1885, the hotel began using a generator, installed by the Edison Incandescent Lighting Company. The power and lighting was tested at the hotel before working on the "lower part of Manitou". That year, the establishment could serve more than 200 people in its hotel and cottages, which had hot and cold running water and steam heat, in addition to electricity. H. T. Blake was the owner of the Iron Springs Hotel in 1887 and at least into 1888.